


Until My Lungs Give Up

by rieclue



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Enemies to Friends, Everything is platonic!, Gen, Hurt Dream, Hurt/Comfort, Manhunt AU, Minecraft, Minor Character Death, No Romance, Realistic Minecraft, Shapeshifter Dream, Slow Burn, friendships are the strongest :)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rieclue/pseuds/rieclue
Summary: Dream wishes he was born normal. He hated being who he was and his kind even more, the troubles it brought, the loneliness...Now he did a mistake that took the last chance of having a home and he is on the run from hunters who struggle to survive just as he does.But as he spends more time with them, he realizes they might not be as bounty-desiring as he would expect from hunters. And as they get to know him, they realize he might not be the monster his kind raised him to be.-----Basically, a Minecraft AU where Dream is a runaway shapeshifter, who has to return back to a place he swore he would never see again and at the same time deal with three hunters, who are trying to take him back to a place where he was destined death.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Darryl Noveschosch & Sapnap, Everyone & Everyone
Comments: 11
Kudos: 189





	1. Behind the iron bars

**Author's Note:**

> hi! I'm Rie and this is my very first published story here-- I hope the summary isn't as confusing as it seems to me... Anyway, enjoy the first chapter! :)

Dream watched the birds find their nests in the trees as the sun hid behind the horizon, signaling not only to the creatures of the quiet land but to the masked shapeshifter as well that it’s time to hide from the shadows of the night. 

After he wandered around for a few more minutes, he decided to settle in the crown of one of the trees whose leaves rustled in the cold wind, preferring the high ground, where he can see the upcoming danger sooner, that the danger can see him. 

As he sat there with his back to the trunk of the old oak, the loneliness he was about to face sunk deeply into his heart.

He probably shouldn’t have listened to his bored mind telling him a little bit of fun wouldn’t hurt. He for sure shouldn’t have gotten into a fight, but Dream most definitely shouldn’t have let his disguise wear off that easily. 

Sure, shapeshifting for a long time was painful and uncomfortable, but a proper shapeshifter knew the risks before he jumped into them, but his tired brain told him that a little break from his new stolen form wouldn’t hurt.

It was a stupid mistake that led Dream where he is now, to the top of a tree, with no one to talk to and nothing to eat. 

Sighing, he let his head lean against the tree, falling into a restless sleep in minutes as the monsters came from their hidings. 

_Dream watches as the king gets up from his throne, walking towards him slowly, threateningly. His knees are throbbing from the stony ground of the village’s ground with his hands tied up tightly behind his back._

_“You must have a lot of guts to wander in my peaceful villages for years, shapeshifter. But your luck has left you today.”_

_The king watches the shapeshifter with a disgusting smirk plastered on his wrinkled face._

_“Have nothing to say?”_

_As Dream stays silent, the king grabs his face sharply, making him face him._

_“You speak when I demand, pitiful creature.” He spits at his mask as the venom in his voice never falters. “You are lucky we didn’t slice your throat right when you attacked that man”_

_“I never attacked anyone” Dream hissed back at which the king laughed loudly._

_“You hear this man? He never attacked anyone!”_

_The crowd around him started mumbling quietly, in fear or disgust, he didn’t know._

_“I’m sure you didn’t, especially after your kind started the war with ours!”_

_Dream stayed silent again, his knuckles from his right hand still dripping fresh blood on his lower back._

_“You will be thrown into the deepest depths of our prison, after losing all your strength, you will be burned right here, in front of everyone’s eyes.”_

_There was clapping and cheering. Dream’s throat tightened as he was yanked up on his feet and led to his cell._

_Four days have passed when Dream already gave up his hopes for a good ending. He knew this was going to happen one day, but it hurt nonetheless._

_He was drifting to sleep when sudden, slow steps interrupted him._

_Listening closely, he imagined the path of the person walking from cell to cell, steps slow and somewhat dangerous, he felt his mind give sudden fight or flight responses that rushed through his whole exhausted body, making him tense up._

_The steps echoed off of the walls as they got closer and closer… wait? Were they going to him?_

_Once the steps stopped, he looked up to his bars and his heart sank._

_Two red eyes watched through the narrow gaps of the iron bars._

_His breath unevened when he realized who was staring him down._

_This was another shapeshifter, the one consumed by the evil shadows that made his eyes glow dangerous red and his fingers turn to black claws._

_They were the deadliest of his kind._

_So what was it doing here? Watching his inferior rot in a cell?_

_After what felt like a whole minute the other shapeshifter's hand came up to the bars, his sharp long fingers wrapping around them and letting them snap under his grasp._

_All while never breaking eye contact._

_Stepping inside, he stood in front of now standing Dream who tried his best to seem as confident as he could, although his shaking knees were hard to control._

_"Dreeam…" His voice echoed dimly as if they were in the deepest of caves, his breath cold._

_Before he got to talk the other continued._

_"You betrayed your kind, now you shall pay…"_

_Dream prepared to die right here and now but the tiniest part of him still hoped he would get to live one more day._

_"... We should let you die here, but that isn't my decision." The shadow shapeshifter frowned even deeper. "Our Lord gave you a chance"_

_Dream felt a shiver down his spine. It has been years since he remembered the Lord's features, but now at the mention of him, an image of his master flashed before his eyes, making his head hurt._

_"W-what do you mean… a chance?" He cursed his trembling voice._

_"You have a month to get back where you belong…"_

_"And if I don't get back?" Dream swore he was going to regret saying this, but he wasn't going to come back, not after everything he has done to stay as far away from his own cursed kind._

_A small disgustingly evil smile tugged at the shadow shapeshifter's lips. "Then we will find you… And make sure you get punishment worse than death" He said._

_Dream gulped. There was no way they would do that to him- right?_

_As the shapeshifter consumed by shadows turned to leave, walking through the destroyed bars, Dream whisper-yelled at his back, afraid to awake the guards guarding the prison._

_"W-wait! How am I supposed to get away from here?"_

_The shapeshifter didn't even seem to notice him as he already walked away._

_Dream stood there awkwardly, looking around for any escape, afraid to make a run for it._

_There was a small window above him, if only there was a rat he could turn into he would-_

_Suddenly there was a noise of something being dragged on the stone ground and the shapeshifter came back, a body dragged behind him, a guard's body, bloodied and unmoving._

_He flung it easily to Dream, who cringed as its head hit the ground._

_"A month. No more"_

_And with that he left, leaving Dream with the body._

_Sighing, Dream shakily bend down to put a hand to the chest of the dead guard, closing his eyes he slowly felt his own body turn chubbier, older, and heavier. New, tighter clothes wrapped around his body. Opening them again, he got up, unexpected pain shooting in his now old knees, making him curse quietly._

_As he squeezed through the bars, he couldn't help but look at the body on the floor, cold and alone._

_"I'm sorry for this" He mumbled at last as he turned to run for his unexpected escape. Turning around every corner, he was greeted by more and more corpses, making him feel lucky for once to be on the side of the shapeshifter._

_As he entered the woods, he felt the panic that was till now hidden behind the rush of adrenalin settle. Gasping for air, he slid down to the ground, feeling his body turn back from his disguise as he lost focus._

_It took him twenty minutes to find the strength to keep going, his legs still weak from the days of starvation._

_But somehow he was going._

The hooded hunter sighed deeply before turning around to his two younger friends.

“Can you two please stop fighting? Remember, we have a mission to focus on” 

Sapnap snapped his head sharply at him as they walked through the forest. 

“Me?! He was the one to call me stupid for bringing my pillow!” 

George laughed mockingly again, his goggles resting on his forehead. “Because you _are_ stupid, always thinking about when you can sit your butt” 

“Says the “oh, can we stop again, my poor legs hurt” jackass” 

“Language Sapnap! That’s enough! We will never catch him this way!” 

“Why do we bother anyway? He’s a shapeshifter, for all we know he could be disguised as a cow in the city and no one would ever know” Sapnap argued back before he stopped walking stubbornly. 

Bad stopped walking as well to look at the youngest hunter. “There is a limit to their power, he can’t shapeshift forever. But they are one of the most skilled people when it comes to fighting-” 

“You meant skilled _monsters_ ” Sapnap eyed him angrily.   
The other two stopped talking instantly, knowing from where was their friend’s hatred coming from. 

George was the first one to break the suffocating silence. “We still need the money”

Nodding, Bad threw a last saddened look Sapnap’s way before throwing his backpack down beside him. “We can rest here for the night, I will start the fire to keep the mobs away, one of you should take watch in case he-”

“I will,” Sapnap says before throwing his own backpack to the ground, already walking away to sit against one of the trees. 

George looks at Bad before speaking up, “Are you sure? I can take the first wa-” 

“ _Yes_ , I’m sure,” He spits before mumbling to himself again. “I’m not sleeping knowing that thing is around here somewhere” 

They let him be after that, George more hesitantly than Bad, who tells him to give the youngest one some space. 

The two fall asleep within an hour, the fireplace crackling beside them as they sleep quietly, not knowing about the masked shapeshifter, who just so happens to be resting right above them...


	2. Higher grounds

When Dream opened his eyes not long after he decided to sleep, he wasn’t expecting to find the source of the sudden sounds to be three what he was sure were hunters, arguing right under his tree. 

“Language Sapnap! That’s enough! We will never catch him this way!” Spoke a hooded figure, catching Dream’s attention first with the sudden change of tone. 

He watched as a second figure stood firmly against his fellow hunter. A white bandana was wrapped around his head. Dream, whose first thought was that it was a bandage later on realized it’s main purpose was probably to keep the hunter’s long dark bangs out of his eyes, which didn’t seem to be working wonderfully. The hunter multiple times shook his head to get the hair out of his face.

As all of them stopped he spotted the last owner of the voice, another boy with big goggles on his forehead and a visible blue shirt under his jacket. 

Dream thought they all looked quite funny for what he thought would be professional hunters chasing after him. 

His smile fell as a single word that he caught in their argument escaped their mouth, even when he was sure he’d get used to them by now, it stung. 

A **monster**. 

_“You are a monster… cherish the fear it radiates, Dream”_

Closing his eyes tightly to shake the memory, he realized the silence that fell upon all of them making Dream feel unbelievably awkward, being the smiley mask un in the trees, watching them, and hoping for someone to break it when he couldn’t.

It was the hooded hunter who threw his backpack first on the ground and spoke, saying that he calls it a day here and deciding to settle for the night.

Right. Under. Him...

…. Just great.

Big iron swords were by their sides, the bandana guy even had his in his hands as he looked around before laying against one of the trees, anger still plastered on his face. 

Dream moved slowly on the tree for the next few hours or so as he studied them more. When he was sure even the Bandana guy who was probably taking a watch fell asleep, he decided it’s time to go. 

Climbing up a tree is easy, even a kid could do it but climbing back down, that for sure gave him some work. Fortunately, he didn’t choose the tallest of trees he could find.

When he finally landed safely on the ground, he watched them cautiously as he walked deeper into the forest, to the side, hoping to make some ground between them during the night. 

What he didn’t hope for were the monsters he ran into minutes after. 

With a sigh, he drew his dagger he stole back when escaping his short term prison stay. 

After readjusting his mask, he was smiling sadly at the shine it had and he swung it at the first zombie that got in his way. A clean cut made the zombie’s head roll down the hill as the body fell to the ground followed by others as Dream cleared his path. 

He was glad he didn't become rusty after many months of not holding a proper weapon. It will be handy now that he came back to the familiar woods. 

On his way, he crunched down to a small berry bush and after making sure it wasn’t poisonous he finally got something into his stomach, and even if it were stupid berries, it tasted wonderfully. 

Dream walked through the forest until the first rays of sunshine blinded him, it’s warmth bringing a slight joy. 

He tried his best not to think of where his way had to lead. The thought of coming back always brought the worst kind of feelings, but now that he was actually forced to return, he didn’t feel anything. 

It was a surreal feeling, facing something he swore to avoid for the life of him, always saying he’d rather die than come back--

\--Why was he coming back then? 

A familiar rattle of bones distracted him out of his troubled mind, forcing him to dodge an arrow that flew right past him.

Without second thought Dream threw his arm and a dagger punctured the skeleton's skull, sending them both down.

Dream couldn’t help but smile proudly as he took his weapon back, cleaning it off of the bone dust. 

His head snapped up at the sound of another rustling in the further bushes. 

Confidently, he was about to face whatever mob was hiding from him but stopped dead in his tracks when he listened more closely. 

The rustle sounded cautious, almost forcibly muffled, and in more than one place around him. 

_Those aren’t mobs._

Panicked, Dream looked around him for a solution, any solution at this moment. 

Then he saw it. He turned on his heels to run the opposite side of the bushes, he prayed he’d reach it in time. 

“Goddammit!” Sapnap yelled as he threw his backpack, falling to the ground with it and covering his eyes with his arm. “We almost had him…” 

“There’s no way we actually run into him on the first night,” George sat down next to him, taking his goggles off again into their usual position. “He even had a head start when he escaped”

“Yeah and now he will have it even bigger…” Sapnap mumbled, looking up into the crowns of the trees.

Bad sighed at the sign of them as he took Sapnap’s backpack and threw it at his stomach, “Get up you muffin head, the longer you lay here the further away he actually gets” 

As Sapnap dusted off his pants, Bad helped George back up and they quickly ran the direction Bad’s map pointed to, the Kingdom of Shapeshifters. Birds’ chirps and wind’s rustling in the trees flowed through the awakening forest following the hunters.

Dream waited for the hunters’ backs to disappear out of his vision and for his heart to stop hammering in his chest before he let out a held breath, shifting back into his body, a smiley mask still pressed firmly against his face. 

He almost fell out of his spot on the bigger branch of a tree, forgetting where he left off. 

A small blue bird pipped at his side, eyeing him curiously. 

“You don’t know how much you helped me little guy” He smiled at the bird. “Sorry for scaring you when I jumped up just to catch you, I was in a hurry” 

Little bird as if still listening twitched his head from side to side, watching him first with a left eye then the right-

“-Aww, aren’t you a real cutie” Dream chuckled before reaching to pet his savior, who flew away as soon his hand got close.

Watching him fly away in the distance, he realized just how high up he actually flew. He mentally slapped himself for being so dumb.

“Reealy nice job Dream, you couldn’t just fly down and celebrate there, no no you didn’t think again and now you will become a pancake as you fall flat climbing down” He talked to himself as he tried to get down to the safe ground. Cursing his fear of heights as his hands shook with each grip. 

When he composed himself and after he took out a few splinters that were in his palms he went on his way, this time choosing a longer way that would lead him through swamps, hoping to not have to run into them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support in my first chapter!! <3
> 
> This chapter is sadly less action-y but guess what, next chapter sure won't disappoint! :D (I hope at least hah)

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, you actually read all this-- I- thank you! :D Any comments with ideas, theories, and picks on my grammar errors are very appreciated since I would love to perfect my English vocabulary. :)


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